There are countless products out there that, for whatever reason, approximate or imitate another type or variety of food. There are likely more meat substitutes available than there are individual cut of meat, as there are dairy substitutes, sugar substitutes, fat substitutes, etc. The intention of these items are to replace the original offending item with a respectable simulacrum that holds more nutritional value or offers up less bodily harm. Ideally, these products succeed in keeping people healthier and lowering (if not eliminating) their intake of questionable foodstuff. So, when I came upon Barbara's Organic Wild Puffs cereal, that is marketed to children and so lovingly replicates the look, feel, and taste of standard issue kid's sugar cereal, I was a bit unsure about what to think.

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On one hand, these cereals were a marked improvement on the sugar-laden, preservative-rich cereals they were trying to impersonate. They were organic, low in salt, had no artificial flavors, and were free of high fructose corn syrup, and any dyes or preservatives and contained something called NutraFlora®, that functioned as a prebiotic fiber. On the other hand, Barbara's Organic Wild Puffs did their job so successfully in masquerading as their junk food analogue, that I found myself wondering if these cereals were not just the breakfast food equivalent of methadone for those children hopelessly strung out on sugar cereals.

Regardless of my junior philosophical suspicions, Barbara's Organic Wild Puffs are an enjoyable, and sweetly indulgent, breakfast option. Available in four varieties (Honey Puffs, Crunchy Cocoa, Cocoa Graham, and Fruit Medley), the Wild Puff gang all were immediately amiable to my inner-child, and as I would imagine, mildly addictive for anyone under the age of 13. The Honey Puffs airy globes hold a gentle sweetness of honey, and dutifully maintain the requisite crunch in milk. The Crunchy Cocoa is nearly identical to the Honey Puffs in look and texture, but are an earthy cocoa color and taste vaguely of chocolate. The Cocoa Graham are the least interesting of the bunch with a chocolate graham cracker taste that seem as if it needs a little more fine tuning with the R&D office. The most whimsical of the bunch is the Fruit Medley, which contains fruit shapes molded in corn flour and naturally colored to represent bananas, grapes, and some other mystery fruit. The fruity flavor isn't that far off from Fruit Loops and the like, but is not nearly as cloying and doesn't leave the inside of your mouth feeling all rubbery and gritty like some sugar cereals tend to do.

Whether you swap out your child's standard, highly-processed breakfast fare for these more wholesome selections, or if you quite simply have not grown out of your morning bowl of sugary goodness, you really can't do much better than these self-proclaimed Wild Puffs.